Mixed Blood

Chapter Two

The Great Hall was absolutely full of students; Harry wondered where all of the first years were going to go. Harry also noticed an extra chair between professors McGonagall and Dumbledore. Before Harry could question, the door behind the staff table opened, and the girl from Diagon Alley came out. She was greeted with a hug from Dumbledore and a handshake from McGonagall before McGonagall went out into the Entrance Hall, to greet the first years and prepare them for the Sorting Ceremony. After her greeting the girl sat down next to Dumbledore.

Harry Noticed the girl wasn't wearing her scarlet robes anymore. She was wearing the same robes all the students wear. This Harry found interesting, perhaps he could get to know her now. That made him a little bit excited.

"I wonder who she is that she gets such special treatment," Hermione whispered.

"Well I'm not sure, but I can say one thing is for sure, Harry here would love to know," Ron said. "We saw her in Diagon Alley, she bought a new racing broom, and Harry's had her on his mind ever since!"

"I have not!" Harry lied. "I told you, I was curios about that broom."

"Alright, whatever you say Harry," Ron said.

Hermione smiled and shook her head. "Boys," she said.

Ron scanned the hall. His eyes finally fell on the Slytherin table. Ron burst out laughing at the sight of Malfoy. Malfoy was slouching with crossed arms in his seat, as Pansy Parkinson frantically brushed dirt off of Malfoy's robes. Ron pointed at Malfoy and Harry started laughing too, soon the whole Gryffindor table was laughing at Malfoy's misfortune. Malfoy just glared at Ron and Harry. They supposed he thought it was their fault.

Finally the doors of the Hall opened, and a line of first years came in behind Professor McGonagall. McGonagall told them to line up facing the entire Hall. They did so. She then put a three-legged stool and an old ratty hat down in front of them.

Harry was staring into space. He wasn't paying any attention to the Sorting Ceremony at all. He didn't even see the hat spring to life and start to sing, he didn't hear the applause after wards. He just stared at this girl at the staff table. He wondered if she was a teacher, but how could she be? She was wearing the same robes the students wear. Without noticing the Sorting Ceremony ended, Ron nudged Harry in the ribs, and Harry came back to earth.

Dumbledore got to his feet. Everyone watched with bated breath. A smile swept across Dumbledore's face, and his eyes twinkled.

"Judging by the anxious looks on all of your faces, you are all both hungry and curious. You would like to know why a student is sitting among the staff, and you would like to know what her name is. Am I wrong?" He looked around to the many faces. "She is a transfer student and has not yet been sorted into a house. This will take place after the feast. Please introduce yourself my dear," Dumbledore said to the girl next to him.

The girl elegantly stood, holding her perfect posture.

"Hello," she said, "my name is Serenity Valmont. Please pardon my late entry here at Hogwarts, but my aunt has just gotten a job here in London with your ministry of magic, so naturally we had to move. I went to Phoenix Gate School of Sorcery for six years. I have never used a wand, but I'm sure I will learn quickly. So I ask all teachers to be patient with me for that. I would like to take this time to apologize to one of you; I believe his name is Draco Malfoy. I would like to apologize for making you fall over, but you were being quite rude to another student. Thank you," She said and clapped her hands.

All of the empty golden plates and goblets filled with food and drinks. It was a start of the year feast such as no other. There were all kinds of foods, even some foreign foods, Chinese, Ukrainian, German, and Canadian. Harry was so hungry he took some of everything. They couldn't believe the selection of foods. The house elves in the kitchens really out did themselves this year. Harry made a mental note to thank them later. He was a friend of one of them, Dobby.

Once all the food and drink was consumed, the hall burst into numerous conversations. Some were about the new Quidditch season, the house cup, and who were going to be the Head Boy and Head Girl. After a few moments, Professor McGonagall tapped her goblet with her fork and the hall went quiet. Dumbledore got to his feet once more to speak.

"Now then prefects, it is time for everyone to get some sleep now that we are fed and watered, please escorts your houses to your dormitories. Mr Weasley, Mr Malfoy, Ms Aaron, and Ms Neaves, would you four please follow us?"

Ron and the other four named followed Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Serenity through the door behind the staff table. Danielle Aaron was one of the seventh year Ravenclaw prefects, and Samantha Neaves was one of the Hufflepuff seventh year prefects. Ron and Draco were the only sixth year prefects from their houses.

The four prefects followed Dumbledore through a long winding corridor. They finally came to a stop in front of a large stone gargoyle. Dumbledore said a password (Fizzing Whizzbee) and the gargoyle sprang to, life and out of the way. The wall behind the gargoyle was apparently a hidden doorway. They then went up a long spiralling staircase, all the way up to a large oak door, with a plaque labelled Headmaster on it. They were led all the way to Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore sat in a large chair behind his desk, and motioned for Serenity to sit in the chair in front of him. Professor McGonagall went behind the desk and picked up the old patched up Sorting Hat.

"Now then, prefects, I suppose you have an idea as to why you are here? We will be sorting Serenity here into her house now. You four are here so she may have an escort to her house and will be given the password as well," Dumbledore explained.

Serenity sat in her chair, as perfectly poised as possible, facing her fellow students. Malfoy had a kind of assuring sneer on his face, as though he knew she would be in Slytherin house. There was a loud sound of what seemed to be music coming from the corner, when the prefects turned they saw a large scarlet and gold bird fly down from a perch in the corner, and land on Serenity's lap. Serenity stared at it for a moment and then began to stroke the bird. She sat with a confident look on her face. She didn't look nervous at all.

Professor McGonagall, placed the Sorting Hat on Serenity' head. She sat there petting the Phoenix for twenty minutes as the Sorting Hat muttered to itself.

"Ah yes, very interesting, very interesting, hmm, yes, I see. It's all here. Where to put you? You have potential for Slytherin, but you have the heart for Hufflepuff, and the ambition of Ravenclaw, as well as the courage of a Gryffindor. Where to put you, where should you go?" The Hat muttered on and on. Finally it came to its decision. "You belong in, GRYFFINDOR!" It said loudly and scared the bird away, "If I may add Albus this girl should be a prefect, she has what it takes."

"Thank you Hat," Dumbledore said to the hat as professor McGonagall removed the hat from Serenity's head.

Serenity held out her right arm and the phoenix flew to it. She then carried the bird back to its perch.

"This is a beautiful bird professor. I should bring mine by sometime, she would love the company of another phoenix," She said as the phoenix took his place, reluctantly, on his perch in the corner.

"Yes, Fawkes would like that. Now that she has been sorted she will be brought to her house. Also, we have not yet chosen our Head Boy or our Head Girl for this year. We will be watching all of our prefects carefully over the next few weeks. I wanted to give Serenity here a chance for Head Girl as well, I had a feeling the hat would suggest her to be a prefect, judging by her work back in Canada. "Yes, Fawkes would like that. Now that she has been sorted she will be brought to her house. Also, we have not yet chosen our Head Boy or our Head Girl for this year. We will be watching all of our prefects carefully over the next few weeks. I wanted to give Serenity here a chance for Head Girl as well, I had a feeling the hat would suggest her to be a prefect, judging by her work back in Canada. Now then, Ronald Weasley, you will take her back to your common room and show her to her dormitory. Also, would it be too much to ask if I asked you to show her around the school? It's not out of your way at all; she is in all of your classes." Dumbledore said to Ron.

"Of course it's not a problem professor." Ron said.

"Thank you Mr Weasley. Now off with you all. Classes do begin tomorrow good night."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Well this is it." Ron said as he and Serenity approached a wall with a portrait of a rather large woman in a pink dress on it. "OK, this is the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, you give her," he said as he pointed to the Fat Lady, "the password, which is, 'Ruby'. I wonder why he wants to give you a chance for head girl. I mean you're only a sixth year like me...I thought only seventh years get the chance to be Head girl or boy." He mumbled to himself.

The portrait swung open to reveal a small doorway in the wall. Serena followed Ron into the Gryffindor common room. She looked around for a moment. There were beautiful tapestries on the walls, a few tables, some squashy armchairs, and a sofa beside a cheerful fire in a large fireplace.

"OK, obviously, this is our common room. Up the stairs and to the right are the girls dormitories, the boys is the same but on the left, you shouldn't be in there though. The door will be marked with your year, seventh year girls. Now I'm not too sure about you but I'm tired, so I'm going to go to bed. I think you should do the same; we have Transfiguration, Divination, Charms and Care of Magical Creatures. I don't think we'll need too much energy for the first three classes but Hagrid's class is always a bit, umm, what's the word, troublesome I guess. He always has interesting creatures for us to play with, trust me you'll need energy for that. So I guess good night and I will meet you in the Great Hall tomorrow morning and Harry and I will take you to class." At that Ron turned around and retreated up the stairs to the boys dormitories.

Serena looked around the common room for a little while longer and then she too retreated up the stairs to the girl's dormitory.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Why do you have to show her around? I mean we found our way to class when we first came here." Hermione said, a stitch of jealousy in her tone of voice.

"Hermione, she's practically Dumbledore's daughter! What was I to do? Say no I really don't feel like it? Besides, she's in all of my classes, like Dumbledore said, it's not out of my way." Ron said with a mouth full of scrambled eggs.

"Well don't let it get in the way of your studies. This is our last and most important year! Everything we've learned, everything we've done, all comes down to this year." Hermione said looking directly at Harry, who was quickly spooning his porridge into his mouth.

"Why are you looking at me? I told you I was thinking about that broom!" Harry lied.

"Sure Harry. Look there's your little tourist now." Said Hermione as Serenity walked into the Hall.

Manny heads turned towards her, mostly males, but she ignored it. She sat down beside Ron. Ron pushed a bowl full of porridge in front of her, and a goblet of milk.

"Here you should eat a bit before classes begin." He said to her.

Hermione glared at Ron. But clearly Ron didn't notice.

"Thank you, I'm not usually hungry in the morning though." Serenity said.

"Well here have some fruit then." Harry said as he pushed a bowl of fresh fruit in front of her. "Trust us you'll need to eat, it's going to be a long day." He glanced over to the Slytherin table.

"Oh! I should have introduced you to everyone!" Ron said. "Serenity this is Harry, and this is Hermione."

"Hello Harry," She said as she shook Harry's hand, "it's a pleasure to meet you really."

Hermione held out her hand to Serenity, who reluctantly took it and shook.

"Nice meeting you Serenity." Hermione said flatly.

"Please call me Serena." Serenity said to Hermione.

Harry was confused. Serena didn't gawk at his forehead, nor did she make a really big deal about meeting him. This was definitely something new to Harry. In a way he liked it, but he was also disappointed that he was just another guy to her.

"Well first up we have Transfiguration with the Slytherin's, then you three have Divination, then we have Charms, with the Slyhterin's, and finally we have Care of Magical Creatures with, oh who'd've thought, the Slytherin's. They're out to get us this year." Hermione said as she read her time schedule.

"Yeah don't forget Potions next week." Ron said reading his schedule.

"Is it bad to have class with the Slytherin house?" Serena asked as they stood and began to walk to the Transfiguration class.

"Well, you remember what Malfoy said to Hermione? Well he's like that all the time, I would like to say you get used to it but that's a lie. I'm glad you're not in that house, you'd probably end up hanging out with him, and he'd find a way to influence you. He's very popular among the Slytherin girls." Ron explained to Serena.

"Wait till you meet Pansy Parkinson. She's madly in love with Malfoy, and he barely knows she exists. She's been like that for as long as we've known her. She's quite foolish really; if she thinks she stands a chance. She would do anything to be with him." Hermione said.

They arrived at the Transfiguration class. Ron led them to seats that were nearest to the back of the room. There were piles of objects on each table. They assumed they were going to be transfiguring them into some sort of creatures.

Professor McGonagall walked into the room shortly afterward. The students who were talking in the hallway came in quickly and sat down.

"Alright, settle down, we will begin the lesson immediately." McGonagall said. "You will begin with the notes on the blackboard, and you will do the assignment that is to follow. You are now in your sixth year and shouldn't need me to explain this to you. The notes are very clear, there shouldn't be any problems. However if you are stuck, I will assist you if necessary. Now you may begin." As she finished speaking a piece of chalk began to write on the blackboard.

Serena quickly picked up her quill and she made it float and write as she read the notes. She then turned to her pile of objects. She was supposed to turn all of this stuff into a cage that contains a kitten. How hard was that?

She took her wand out of her book bag, and placed it on the table in front of her. She sat there looking at it for a moment. It was mahogany, stained reddish brown, with golden vines crawling up the wand.

"Go on then. Do the assignment Serena." Hermione said with superiority in her tone of voice.

"I've never used a wand before. Back at Phoenix Gate I never had to. Wands mess with the kind of magic we used there, it makes it a little bit stronger, depending on the sorcerer. Special case witches and wizards went to Phoenix Gate, none of us needed wands for our magic." Serena said still looking at her wand.

"Well pretend you used it. Old McGonagall's too busy helping Neville, she won't be paying attention to you." Ron said.

Serena shrugged and before long her pile of objects were dancing in front of her and slowly forming into a cage. Soon the cage had a living kitten inside of it. Hermione looked over at Serena and was about to offer help, but she was surprised to see Serena playing with a friendly little kitten already. Serena saw Hermione staring.

"Did you need help Hermione?" She asked politely.

"Err, no thanks." Hermione said.

"Hermione has been the top student for six years running, she won't need help." Said a timid voice from beside Serena.

It was Neville Longbottom.

"Oh, I see, my mistake then." Serena said as she continued to play with her kitten.

After twenty minutes Hermione had her kitten and her cage, Ron and Harry had theirs in their cages a little while after that. Ron's kitten was a bit temperamental though. Soon Neville's kitten no longer had pink and blue spots but was perfect, thanks to the helpful hints Serena had been whispering to him. She was rewarded five house points for showing Neville how to do it properly. McGonagall was amazed that Neville understood Serena's method, and not her own.

Pansy Parkinson walked past Ron, Harry and Hermione. Hermione whispered something and pointed her wand at a pencil on her desk. It flew from its spot on the desk, and smacked Pansy right in her rather flat face. Naturally she ran to Malfoy, to tell him what the nasty Gryffindors did to her. Unfortunately for Pansy, Draco didn't care. He simply shrugged her off and turned his cute little grey kitten into a pure black one.

"Draco isn't really bad at Transfiguration is he?" Serena asked Ron. "I can feel that he has a lot of magic, he's very strong. It's the same kind of magic all the students at my old school had. Is he normally a good student?"

"Well, he's gotten ten times better over the last two years. I think his dad's been helping him out over the summer. The entire Ministry of Magic is terrified of Draco's father so they won't fine Draco for practicing magic away from Hogwarts. But yes, he's a good student now. He never really was before, but like I said he's improved." Hermione explained.

"Well Dumbledore's really impressed with him. He thinks he's done very well...perhaps I shouldn't have said that..."Serena said realizing what she had said.

"You know! You know who's going to be Head girl and Head boy!" Hermione said.

"Uh...hmm...err.... All I know is that he wants to give all sixth years a chance for it...that's all I know. I swear!" The bell rang, and Serena breathed a sigh of relief, she was very grateful, it looked as though Hermione was going to grab her by the collar and interrogate her some more. As it was she did know whom Dumbledore wanted for Head Boy, and she did know who was up for Head Girl, but she promised not to tell. She quickly packed her things away into her book bag, and dragged Ron and Harry out into the corridor away from Hermione.

"Alright, off to Divination." Ron said.

"You can have a break from Hermione, she has Arithmancy." Harry said to her.

It was evident that Serena didn't smile much. He had hoped for a sarcastic smile or any sort of indication that it was somewhat funny, but she didn't move a facial muscle. Again Harry was disappointed. He didn't know how to get her attention. She just followed Ron straight to class.

They arrived at the bottom of the stairwell where Ron, Harry, and Serena went up to their Divination class, up in the North tower. They went up a long winding staircase. It seemed to go on forever when, finally, they reached the top. Above their heads was a silver ladder. They had to climb this ladder to get up to the classroom.

"Ladies first." Said Ron as he moved aside for Serena to climb up first.

"Be careful though, Trelawny's well known for predicting untimely deaths of her new students. She still does it to me!" Harry warned.

Serena went up the ladder. Harry and Ron followed her closely. The smell of the humid and strongly perfumed air filled their nostrils, this forced Serena to screw up her face. The room was dimly lit; Harry stubbed his toe on a table he passed by. The curtains were drawn; all that lit the room was a large fire crackling merrily in the fireplace at the front of the room. Serena was led to the back of the room to a table that was less visible from the front.

"So you think that this professor Trelawny's a fraud then?" Serena asked Ron.

"Well if you think about it she's got to be...I mean Harry's not dead yet is he...it's been three years now and she's been saying he's going to die every year!" Ron explained.

"Well I'm not sure about that." Harry said. "Remember that one time, in our third year that strange behaviour I told you about? Remember when I told you about that prediction she made, but it wasn't her?" Harry tried to jog Ron's memory.

"Oh!! Yeah I remember that now!" Ron said as it clicked in his brain.

"Professor Trelawny made a prediction in our third year, she went into this kind of trance. When she spoke it wasn't her usual mystical voice, it didn't sound like her at all. She said that his follower would return to him and bring him back..." Harry said staring off into space.

"I'm going to assume you're talking about Voldemort." Serena said plainly.

The class gasped and turned to look at Serena.

"Don't say his name!!" Ron hissed. "It's bad enough that Harry says His name...we don't need you to!"

"Sorry...I didn't know you people feared him THAT much." Serena said.

"You're not afraid of him?" Harry asked Serena with wide-eyed surprise.

"No, should I be?" She asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I dunno...you're not from London originally so I suppose there's no real reason for you to fear him." Harry pondered out loud.

Serena turned to Ron, "Does Harry think out loud often?"

"Umm, lemme get back to you on that one, I think he's gone mental."

"Welcome back my dears." Said an eerie voice from the front of the class. "It's good to see you've all returned for another year."

Professor Trelawny came into view in front of the class. She was hiding in the shadows beside the fireplace. She looked the same as always, two shawls (of different colours, pink and green) on top of her deep purple robes, bangles from her elbows down to he wrists, and two rings on each finger. Her glasses were the pièce de resistance, they made her eyes three times larger then they would be normally. Serena held back her laughter, but she couldn't help grinning at how ridiculous the teacher looked.

Trelawny straighten her glasses, and looked around the room. She smiled and nodded at familiar faces, and paused with a look of disappointment at Neville Longbottom, and continued across the room to Harry and Ron's table. Her humongous eyes finally fell upon Serena, somehow, no one knows how, but they grew bigger at the sight of Serena.

"I see Serena Valmont is among our number now. A fine replacement for the one we lost three years past." Trelawny said referring, of course, to Hermione, who had dropped out of the Divination class in their third year. "The eye is very strong in you my dear, you possess the rare ability to see, but can you is the question." She continued on Serena.

"Professor I don't mean to be rude, but could you please get on with the lesson for today, I really hate being singled out like that." Serena said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat, as everyone stared at her.

An insulted looked swept quickly across the professor's face. "Alright then, we shall begin by revising certain things we learned in the beginning, to see how far along miss Valmont is. We shall begin with Tea leaves, everyone please get a tea cup."

"Oh, not again! We really sucked at that when we started taking this stupid class!" Ron whispered to Harry.

"Perhaps Mr Weasley, if you thought this class was that stupid, you should have taken a leaf out of Miss Granger's book and walked out." Said Professor Trelawny. "Now please get a cup Mr Weasley."

Ron's face turned a terrible shade of red; it blended nicely with his red hair. He got up and went to get a teacup.

"Sorry professor Trelawny." He mumbled.

"Neville, I'll get you a cup alright?" Serena said quickly. "You're gonna hurt yourself."

"But I'll be careful, I'm not that clumsy!" Neville said in self-defence.

"But..." Serena said as Neville stood up to get a cup.

Sure enough Neville tripped over a pillow that had fallen on the floor, and hit his head on a table. Everyone stared at Serena again. Neville sat up, rubbing his head, and went to sit down again.

"I told you!" Serena scolded, "I wasn't saying that because I thought that you were clumsy, Neville. I knew you were going to fall!"

"Alright then..." Professor Trelawny said interrupting whatever Lavender Brown was about to say, "I suppose Tea leaves is a bit to easy then...let's move onto Crystal gazing." Trelawny snapped her overly decorated fingers, and a crystal ball appeared on each tabletop. "Let's see how you do at this." She said to Serena.

Serena looked at the blue-green orb in front of her. The smoke swirled around inside the sphere playfully. She shrugged and looked deeper into the ball. Ron and Harry also looked into the ball...though blankly. Ron was pretending to concentrate, but he was only watching the mist inside as it danced around. Harry on the other hand was actually trying his hardest to see something...anything would do for him. He knew he could do it, but he didn't know how to do it.

All throughout his fourth year he had premonitions of You-Know-who's return. They did in fact come to pass, by the end of the year he had returned, just like Harry's premonitions told him. You-Know-Who is alive and well somewhere waiting for the right time to make his move...whatever that could be. He had these only when he was asleep, or whenever he passed out...he had a few in the previous year, but they were just stupid little things that you would call dèjà-vu.

Serena now leaned back in her chair, Ron curiously looked up at her. Harry on the other hand hadn't noticed.

"Miss Valmont, don't you think you should be gazing into the ball like everyone else?" Professor Trelawny asked coming up behind Serena.

"I'm finished, professor," She said innocently.

"And what did you see?"

"I saw someone in need of my help. I saw conflict between five people, and I saw a lot of blood...death approaches...a war of some kind..." She said as she stared off into space. For some reason, Ron didn't think Serena was home, so to speak.

Professor Trelawny was at a loss for words. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. None-the-less she awarded Gryffindor house ten points and made her way back to her winged chair at the front of the class. She never came up to their table again.

The bell went and everyone packed up their things and one by one they climbed down the silver ladder.

"Serena..." said a timid voice from behind her.

"Yeah?" she replied as she turned to face Parvati Patil.

"Umm, did you really see that in the crystal ball?" She asked Serena.

"Yes, was I not supposed to?" Serena said raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Well no, yes you were, but no one has ever actually seen anything in them before...I was just wondering if you made it up too..."Parvati said.

Serena shrugged and pushed Ron to get moving. Ron tripped a bit, since she kind of pushed him over, and began to move towards their next class, Charms.

"If Divination was easy to you, then Charms should be even easier." Ron said to Serena.

"I love Charms. It's my favourite thing to do with magic. I like Charms, Divination, and Transfiguration. I don't mind Potions, but I struggle with following the process...I'm not a patient person really." She explained.

"You're not even learning anything!" Harry blurted out. "What are you doing here if you're not learning anything?"

"Well, Harry, if you must know, I've learned all of this already. I learned it all last year...it's like you guys were just a little bit behind in your fifth year. If I'm not going to learn anything all year then Dumbledore would have rejected my request to enter here." She lashed back at Harry.

"Alright! Look at that here's our classroom!" Ron said slipping between Harry and Serena before anything happened. "Ladies first." He said moving out of the way for Serena to go through the doorway.

She walked into the room and she sat at the back, thinking it was the place of choice for the boys. Harry and Ron followed her lead and sat down, Ron between the two of course. Hermione came in, and saw Ron sitting beside Serena, and immediately gave him a look of disapproval, before taking a seat beside Harry.

"How was Arithmancy?" Ron asked timidly.

"Fine, how was Divination? Nothing to hard for our new student was it?" Hermione said venomously.

"It was good...Trelawny didn't predict anyone's deaths...but Serena said she saw death approaching..."Ron told her.

"I see, so who's gonna die first?" Hermione said not believing what Ron said.

Serena turned her head slowly toward Hermione, and glared at her.

"Well? Is Harry going to die this year for sure? Or are you a fraud like that old bat?" Hermione spat. "Who's going to die?"

"You are if you keep that up!" Serena hissed.

Hermione shut her mouth and sat back in her chair. Ron smacked himself in the forehead and shook his head.

"Good morning class!" said the squeaky voice of Professor Flitwick. "Today we shall begin our study on Apparation, and Disapparation. Naturally we won't be practicing apparation and disapparation, there's a test you will be taking soon for that. If you study the techniques, and methods to mastering the art, I'm sure your tests won't be difficult at all."

Suddenly Serena raised her hand.

"Yes miss Valmont, what is it?" The tiny teacher said noticing her hand.

"What if I told you I already have my licence, to apparate and disapparate?" She said.

"That's not possible, you're not old enough to know how..." The professor squeaked.

"I learned last year, and went for my test this year...I think Hogwarts is a bit behind Phoenix Gate." She said. "And according the Hogwarts: A History, I can't prove it to you either, since there's no apparating and disapparating on Hogwarts grounds."

Hermione looked at Serena with a look of surprise. It was the first time in seven years that Hermione didn't have to tell someone that you can't apparate or disapparate on school grounds. She spent every year reminding Harry and Ron of that.

"Well then this part of the class should prove to be no challenge for you. But we will be moving on quickly, as it is, exactly what Serena said, we cannot actually practice this. We will be doing some defence charms this year though, reflecting, shielding, and perhaps we shall have a few mock duels this year as well." Professor Flitwick said. "Now then I want you all to come and get a book from this pile here, and begin taking your notes on the subject."

There was a rush of noise as everyone got out of their seats.

"Honestly, are we witches and wizards or are we muggles?" Said a cold voice from behind Serena. "Accio book!"

Serena turned to find the book gliding to a desktop in front of Draco Malfoy. He glared down at Serena with a look that said; "too bad you never thought of that". When she turned back to face the front, textbooks were flying in every direction of the classroom.

"Excellent Mr Malfoy! Five points to Slytherin!" Flitwick said. "Excellent example of leadership!"

Serena, Harry, Hermione, and Ron could all feel Draco look of triumph from behind them. They all shuddered in unison.

Serena was the only student without a book, so she decided to go sit with Neville, and help him take notes. She had shown him a new charm that would make his quill write whatever he was thinking, or reading, depending on which word he used in the spell. He tried it out and soon his quill was whizzing across the parchment in front of him, as he read the book. Soon he was finished with that book, and he closed it.

"That charm comes in handy when you're writing notes in class." Serena said.

"Thanks, umm, anyone done with their book yet?" Neville asked the class.

"Wonderful Serena! Teaching Mr Longbottom a new charm, and helping him with his work, five points to Gryffindor." Flitwick squeaked.

Serena smirked and looked in Malfoy's direction. He purposefully avoided her gaze. The bell went and there was a loud ruffling of pages as everyone closed their books and got out of their seats and left the room. Ron and Harry waited at the door for Serena.

"Ready for lunch?" Ron asked.

"Yes, I'm hungry now." She said.

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Ron and Harry led Serena back to the Great Hall for lunch. Ron and Harry continuously talked about how hungry they were the whole time. Serena didn't say a word until she was finished her stew.

"So we have Care of Magical Creatures next and your friend Hagrid is the teacher?" She asked Ron, who nodded in response. " He seems very nice, I spoke to him at the feast yesterday. He's a little crazy, but he appears to be quite harmless."

"Harmless huh? Well Hagrid himself is harmless, but if you saw the creatures we've had to 'play with' you wouldn't say harmless. He's mental, I'm tellin' ya!" Ron said to Serena, Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement.

After Harry and Ron ate their fill of lunch, they are growing boys after all; the lot of them began to make their way outside toward Hagrid's hut. A gentle breeze greeted them as they left the castle doors. I was an unusually warm day for the second day of September. Usually it was a cool day. The grass was wet and slushy; Ron almost slipped and fell twice. He decided to be a gentleman, and offered Serena his hand so she wouldn't fall, and he helped her down the small hill the led to Hagrid's hut. This action of consideration made Hermione awfully angry, and jealous. Neither Ron nor Harry had payed any attention to Hermione all day. Hermione stomped past Ron, Harry, and Serena, making it clear that she was not impressed. Ron was the first one to realize what she was so angry about.

"Oh come on Hermione! You've had all of our attention for the past five years!" He shouted after her.

"Aw, the poor little mudblood misses being the only whore in the group?" said a familiar, cold voice from behind Ron.

"Malfoy, I see you miss the taste of dirt." Serena said anger flashing in her strange, blue eyes. "Well I see it rained last night, the soil is nice and soft for you now, perhaps you'd like another mouthful?" she slowly turned to face him.

"Serena Valmont is it? You look like the vengeful type. It's such a waste that you're in Gryffindor, you would have made such a great Slytherin...and maybe we could have been friends. You're just like Potter here, you make friends with the wrong sort." Malfoy told her.

"I think the friends I make are just fine thanks, and Slytherin or not I wouldn't tolerate your attitude Malfoy, I would still be kicking your spoiled little ass. And your father couldn't do a damn thing about it. I have more power in my pinkie finger than your father will ever have, even if he is Voldemort's right hand man." Serena said to Malfoy, as everyone cringed at the mentioning of the name Voldemort.

Draco looked at Serena, her nerve impressed him, and with a swish of his robes he continued on his way to Hagrid's hut.

"Don't ever talk to him that way again you little mudblood loving whore." Said a girl's voice.

Serena turned her head in the direction of the voice. It was Pansy Parkinson.

"Draco's my man got it?" She said to Serena.

"Trust me you can have him." Serena replied coldly. "And never tell me what to do again you got that?"

Pansy glared at Serena for a moment and then she scurried away to catch up with Malfoy. I looked to Serena like Pansy was trying to act sexy around Draco, but when he saw her; he merely rolled his eyes and walked faster. It was more than clear the he wasn't in the least bit interested in Pansy. In fact he looked utterly disgusted by her presence. Serena smirked, and continued to follow Ron and Harry to the hut.

"Cute place Hagrid's got there." She said to Ron.

Serena suddenly had the feeling she was being watched. Divination being one of her best subjects, she tried to see who was watching her. She closed her eyes for a moment and the face of Draco Malfoy appeared in her mind. She lowered her head and laughed to herself.

"What's funny?" Harry asked.

"Can you look behind us and tell me if Malfoy's looking this way?" She asked Harry.

Harry looked over his shoulder and watched Malfoy for a moment. First he saw Draco sizing her up, and then a look that said he was plotting something cruel crossed his face. Harry thought Serena could handle whatever Draco threw at her.

"Well, he's looking at you. I think he's going to try and embarrass you in some way." Harry said turning his head back toward Serena.

"He's welcome to try. I can be just as vindictive as he is." She told Harry.

Harry smiled at her response. He had a feeling this year was going to be an exciting one. It appeared that Draco has finally met his match. And Serena didn't loo like the type to be harassed and do nothing about it.

"Good afternoon to yeh all." Said the gruff voice of Hagrid. "I hope yer all enjoyin' yer short classes today. Yer to be reminded that classes will return to normal times and lengths tomorreh. Now then, I want yeh all ter follow me ter me pumpkin patch behind me hut."

The class followed Hagrid around his hut to his pumpkin patch. There was a gasp when the class saw what Hagrid had tethered to a tree in his patch. It was a three-headed snake of some sort. It was rather ugly, and it was bickering back and forth between its three heads.

"This here's a special kinda critter it is. I always ferget what it's called though. In any case, as yeh can see it has three heads. One is knowledge, another is the temperamental part of it, and the other is the artsy part. Most of the time the head of knowledge, and the temperamental one gang up on the artsy one, and eventually they bite that head off. Apparently they've already begun to fight about sommat." Hagrid said as the class turned its attention to the snake.

They all watched it as it hissed back and forth from head to head. Suddenly Harry and Serena burst out laughing. The entire class looked at them as though they were insane.

"What's so funny?" Pansy asked them.

"You guys can't understand them." Harry said, "What are you laughing at Serena?"

"Can't you hear what they're fighting over? You're a parselmouth aren't you?" Serena said.

Everyone looked at her in shock, some even backed away from her.

"You can understand that thing too?" Ron asked her.

"Well, yeah, I speak parseltongue..." She said without looking at the facial expressions on everyone's face.

It was well known to everyone in the wizarding world that Harry Potter was a parselmouth; he could speak to and understand snakes. It's a rare gift that is supposedly possessed by the heir of Slytherin. The last known heir of Slytherin was He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself, and when He tried to kill Harry he passed on some of his abilities to Harry, which explains why Harry's a parselmouth. But how can Serena have this talent?

"Y-you can speak parseltongue?" Pansy said fear quivering in her voice.

"Yeah, is that a bad thing?" Serena asked completely confused.

"Well only Harry and You-Know-Who can speak parseltongue, and if You-Know-Who hadn't tried to kill Harry, he wouldn't be able to speak it. And the heir of Slytherin is supposed to be the only one who can speak parseltongue, and that's You-Know-Who." Hermione told Serena.

"When you say You-Know-Who you mean Voldemort right?" Serena asked.

Everyone in the class cringed, and some gasped in disbelief that she said His name. It was taboo to speak His name out loud.

"Oh grow up! Harry says His name all the time! You should be used to it!" Ron said in Serena's defence.

"It's only a name after all you guys. It's nothing to fear." Harry said. "I'm not afraid of Voldemort, that's why I say his name."

"I don't fear him either. Voldemort is only a man, and he can be killed. He will be brought down one day, you'll see." Serena said.

"You're mad!" Pansy squealed. "He can't be killed, if he could be killed he'd be dead by now!"

"Alright already! That's enough from the lot of yeh! Remember yer all still in class? Now it's great that she can talk ter snakes, Harry's not the only one now, can we please get on with yer lesson?" Hagrid growled at the class.

Malfoy muttered something under his breath that Harry chose to ignore, and the class' attention returned to Hagrid. Hagrid continued to talk about the three-headed snake, and finally the bell indicating the end of class went off.

Everyone kept their distance from Serena as they walked back to the castle. They were acting as though she could curse them at any moment. When they reached the castle, Serena went in a different direction from the rest of the class.

"The common room's this way Serena." Ron said.

"I know, but I think I'll walk around on my own for a little while. I'll find my own way to Potions and I saw the greenhouses outside, not too far from Hagrid's place. Thank you for showing me around guys, I'll meet you in Snape's class I guess." She said as she walked down the hallway and turned the corner. Ron and Harry shrugged and continued on their way to Gryffindor Tower.

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